England went 2-0 up when Jesse Lingard curled a superb first-time cross to the far post for Dele Alli to head home from close range.

Pickford had to pull off two more impressive saves, low down to his right and then a fingertip effort over the crossbar.

Mowbray highlighted how the young Sunderland keeper had been out on six different loans, including to hot spots such as Darlington, Carlisle and Bradford.

‘Daddy’ Fabian Delph was thrown on for the last quarter of an hour in place of Alli, Eric Dier followed for Jordan Henderson with six minutes remaining and Marcus Rashford for Sterling at the start of stoppage time.

“Sweden play how we used to, 4-4-2. It’s Dark Ages,” said Keown as time ticked down to a semi-final meeting with either hosts Russia or Croatia.

“Professional, thorough. Every player played their part. All of them were absolutely magnificent. The attitude from very first moment to now has been first class. I never felt nervous at all,” said Shearer.

Ferdinand added: “Confidence exudes from this team.”

John Stones, Kyle Walker, Lingard and Alli evoked the spirit of Terry Butcher and Chris Waddle from 1990 and the ‘Let’s all have a disco’ dance.

All of a sudden, the lounge was almost empty again and I could hear the post-match thoughts of the pundits and the interviews with the players.

The problem is, now we’ve all got to watch Wednesday’s semi-final together as well. We wouldn’t want to jinx it.